Mexico Loses 27,622Ha of Mangroves in Five Years

Mexico lost 27,622ha of mangrove between 2020 and 2025, with real estate development, irregular clearing, agriculture, and aquaculture among the main pressures on these coastal ecosystems, according to the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO). Mangrove coverage declined from 905,086ha in 2020 to 877,464ha in 2025.

Despite the decline, Mexico remains the world’s fourth-largest country in terms of mangrove coverage, accounting for 6% of the global total, behind Indonesia at 19%, Australia at 9% and Brazil at 7%. Mangroves are present across Mexico’s 17 coastal states and cover about 0.4% of the country’s territory.

CONABIO’s Mangroves of Mexico: Update and Spatial Dynamics 2025, the latest five-year assessment under the Mexican Mangrove Monitoring System, identified 52,130ha of disturbed mangrove in 2025. The area, which includes dead or regenerating vegetation, increased 538.5% from 9,680ha in 2020.

Nayarit recorded the largest increase in disturbed mangrove, reaching 16,834ha in 2025 from 2,736ha five years earlier. Campeche followed with 12,539ha, while Quintana Roo reported 7,362ha. Together, Nayarit and Campeche accounted for 29,373ha, or 56.3% of Mexico’s total disturbed mangrove.

The Yucatan Peninsula, comprising Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan, contained 23,204ha of disturbed mangrove, equivalent to 44.5% of the national total. The region also holds 61.3% of Mexico’s overall mangrove area.

Real estate and tourism development are among the documented pressures in the peninsula. Sergio Madrid, Director of the Mexican Civil Council for Sustainable Forestry, says hurricanes can damage mangroves but that these ecosystems have a capacity to recover from natural events. The impact is different when vegetation is removed for construction.

“There are a wide variety of causes, but one important factor that we have documented is the growth of real estate and tourism projects. The Federal Attorney General for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) has imposed fines or suspended projects, but they have not managed to stop them,” Madrid says. 

According to data cited by the specialist, nearly 1,000 real estate projects were identified in Quintana Roo between 2020 and 2025, while approximately 650 were reported in northern Yucatan around Merida. PROFEPA has documented cases involving construction on coastal ecosystems. In October 2025, the agency closed two properties in Chicxulub Puerto, Yucatan, for filling mangrove areas and removing vegetation without the required environmental impact authorization.

Mangrove deterioration also affects coastal resilience and economic activities. These ecosystems help protect communities from storms, hurricanes and flooding, support commercially important fish and crustacean species, filter water, and store carbon.

In Nayarit, documented causes include changes to hydrological patterns from dredging, river modifications, and sediment accumulation, as well as pollution, deforestation, agriculture, livestock production, aquaculture, salt production, and tourism. In Sinaloa, aquaculture farms are identified as a predominant pressure because clearing mangrove vegetation for their construction can also affect water quality.

CONABIO has identified 103 potential mangrove restoration areas nationwide. However, only two are located in Nayarit and six in Campeche, despite their high levels of disturbed mangrove. The commission recommends annual monitoring to identify deterioration earlier and guide restoration efforts.

Madrid says that restoration must address the causes of degradation rather than simply replanting affected areas. “CONABIO has not reviewed the causes. In reality, it has recorded the affected areas. Mexico ranks among the 10 or 12 most biodiverse countries in the world and still retains a considerable area of mangroves,” Madrid adds. 

Mexico’s legal framework prohibits activities that affect mangrove integrity, including removal, filling, and works that alter hydrological flows. The latest assessment highlights a growing challenge for Mexico’s coastal planning: maintaining mangrove ecosystems while managing real estate, tourism, aquaculture, and other economic activities in coastal areas.